Already at 24 victories, tied for third-most in program history, the Hawaii men’s volleyball team will look for more against Pepperdine on Saturday in Honolulu in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation quarterfinals.
The third-seeded Rainbow Warriors (24-4) swept the season series with the sixth-seeded Waves (10-11), winning both matches in straight sets in Honolulu. The two wins occurred during UH’s 15-match win streak, and extended its home win streak against Pepperdine to nine dating back to 2010. Coach Charlie Wade is a perfect 9-0 at home against the Waves.
Hawaii is riding a 21-match home win streak and is coming off of two match sweep of UCLA, including a 41-39, 25-23, 18-25, 25-22 marathon win Saturday.
Senior setter Jennings Franciskovic was named the MPSF’s Player of the Week, averaging 9.62 assists, 2.38 digs, and 1.25 blocks per set in two matches in which UH hit .304.
The Rainbow Warriors’ four losses this season have come against the top two teams in the conference No. 1 seed Long Beach State and second-seeded BYU, which are hosting USC and Stanford respectively in their quarterfinals. UC Irvine is playing UCLA in the 4-5 matchup.
The top remaining seed hosts the semifinals and finals April 20 and 22.
Kaleikini honored
UH-Hilo freshman Mae Kaleikini earned her second Pacific West Conference Freshman of the Week honors Monday, one day after the Honolulu native hit a walk-off home run in the ninth inning of a 3-1 victory against Hawaii Pacific.
In the second game, Kaleikini threw a runner out of third from right field and posted the Vulcans’ first hit against Shannon Curry in the fifth as UH-Hilo won 3-2.
PacWest preview
The UH-Hilo men’s golf team got a try run in at the course that will host the PacWest championships, finishing second Saturday at the Hawaii Challenge in Kahuku, Oahu.
Vulcans freshman Taylor Patrick closed with a 2-under 70 to finish 3-under at Turtle Bay Resort, Fazio Course.
Led by a one-two finish from Nicholas Herrera (12-under) and Jacob Godfrey (7-under), BYU-Hawaii claimed the title at 19-under 557. The Vulcans were even-576, Hawaii Pacific was another three shots back and Chaminade came in at 604.
For the Vulcans, Jared Kinoshita’s 68 was the low round for Saturday. The sophomore finished at 3-under and Jeffrey Yamaguchi was 1-under. Braeden Campbell was 6-over and Preston-Lee Ching 12-over.
